No houses for Humansdorp

The full Kouga Municipal Council had a meeting on Monday in Jeffreys Bay and despite the fact that no RDP houses have been built in Kouga for many years, the Humansdorp housing list was withdrawn from the agenda.

No solid reasons were given for this decision, despite it being queried by DA Councillor Desmond Petersen.

“The Humansdorp housing list dates back to 2006, and now there will be yet another delay,” says Petersen.

The 220 names on the Pellsrus housing list and the 1 500 names on the Ocean View list were accepted by Council.

It is unclear when the building of the houses will commence, despite assurances given to the community that construction was due to start in 2015.

The Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan (SDBIP) was approved by Council, despite objections raised by the Democratic Alliance.

“The SDBIP is a tool that, if correctly utilised, can help the Mayor and Council, as well as the Municipal Manager to monitor the financial performance of the Municipality,” says DA Councillor Brenton Williams.

“Monthly monitoring would enable Council to be pro-active and take remedial steps in the event of poor performance, but the SDBIP presented to Council is nothing more than an exercise in election box ticking,” he adds.

According to legislation, the SDBIP should provide detailed monthly projections of revenue as well as operational and capital expenditure, but the Kouga SDBIP provides only quarterly figures that are clearly copied and pasted from one quarter to the next.

The Auditor General in a report submitted to Council, criticised the lack of oversight and monitoring of financial management in Kouga as well as service delivery reporting and compliance with legislation.